
Class u_^J_i= 




Rhode Island Monument. 



state of IRbo&e 1I5lau^ anC) lI^vo\n^ence DMantatiou!3, 



REPORT 



\\o ^e. T^Wni , Gr2.neral asse-mbl^, 



Joint Special Committee 



ON ERECTION OK 



onument at Andersonville, Ga. 




COMMITTEE. 



O/ f'"-- Senate, 

E. L. Freeman, 
Henry P. Eldredge. 



Of the House, 

Walter H. Durfee, 
John T. Kenyon, 
L. F. C. Garvin. 



PROVIDENCE: 

E. L. FREEMAN & SONS, STATE PRINTERS. 
1903. 



^;;^v 



APn 5 )904 
0. ofO, 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE, 



On the fourth da}' of April, 1902, Senator E. L,. Freeman, of 
Central Falls, presented in the Senate some statistics in rela- 
tion to the soldiers from Rhode Island who had died in the 
prison pen at Andersonville, Ga., and whose remains had been 
laid to rest in the National Cemetery at that place. He then 
offered the following resolution, which was unanimously 
adopted by both houses of the General Assembly : 

" Resolution appointing a special joint committee to inquire 
into the facts in regard to the burial of Rhode Island 
soldiers in the National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga. 

''Resolved, That a joint special committee consisting of two 
members of the Senate and three from the House of Represent- 
atives be appointed to take into consideration and recommend 
to the General Assembly what action, if anj^, should be taken 
in regard to the soldiers from this State who died in the prisons 
at Andersonville, Ga., during the civil war, and have been 
buried in the National Cemetery at said Andersonville." 

The committee appointed by the Governor consisted of 
E. L,. Freeman, of Central Falls, and Henry P. Eldredge, of 
East Greenwich. The Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives appointed Walter H. Durfee and John C. Kenyon, of 
Providence, and Eucius F. C. Garvin, of Cumberland. 

The committee met at the State House on the i6th of April, 
1902, and organized by electing E. E. Freeman chairman, and 



4 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

Walter H. Diirfee secretary. The following committees were 
appointed : On design for a monument, Messrs. Durfee and 
Kenyon ; to procure information concerning routes and cost 
of transportation from Providence to Ander.sonville and return, 
Mr. Durfee ; on correspondence, Mr. Freeman. 

The committee met several times during the summer and 
autumn, and agreed upon a design for the proposed monu- 
ment, which had been prepared by the sub-committee, who 
had, at their own expense, visited the National Cemetery at 
Gettysburg, and had also carefully examined man}' monu- 
ments of a similar character. They also procured estimates 
covering the cost of same, also for the casting of the bronze 
panels and other bronze work ; for the transportation of the 
monument to Andersonville and its erection there ; and for 
the expenses of the dedication, etc. On the 28th of Novem- 
ber the committee made the following report to the General 
Assembl}^ : 

" State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

"Providence, November 28, 1902. 

" To the Honorable the General Assembly : 

" On the 4th of April, 1902, the following joint resolution was 
adopted by the General Assembly : 

" 'Resolved, That a joint special committee, consisting of two 
members of the vSenate and three from the House of Repre- 
sentatives, be appointed to take into consideration and rec- 
ommend to the General Assembly what action, if any, should 
be taken in regard to the soldiers from this State who died in 
the prisons at Andersonville, Ga., during the civil war, and 
have been buried in the National Cemetery at said Anderson- 
ville.' 

" The committee consisted of E. L. Freeman and Henry P. 
Eldredge on the part of the Senate, Walter H. Durfee, John 



REPORT OF COMMIT'J'EE. 5 

T. Ken5'on, and Lvicius F. C. Garvin on the part of the House 
of Representatives. 

" The committee met at the State House on the i6th of April, 
1902, and organized by choosing E. L. Freeman as chairman, 
Walter H. Durfee as secretary. 

" We found by correspondence with the superintendent of the 
National Cemetery at Andersonville that 74 Rhode Island 
soldiers were buried there, according to the returns kept at 
the prison, and he sent us the names, rank, regiment, and date 
of death. We also ascertained from Mrs. Lizabeth A. Tur- 
ner, of New Britain, Conn., chairman of the Board of Mana- 
gers of the Andersonville Prison Property, that the old prison 
ground, containing 88 ^s acres, had been purchased by the 
National Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Arm}- 
of the Republic. That the}' had cleared up the ground, fenced 
it, laid out roads and drives, had erected a house, and have a 
veteran soldier and his wife as care-takers. The)^ have also 
erected a granite pavilion over the ' Providence ' spring. 
Some of the survivors of that terrible prison pen have put in 
a beautiful fountain. 

" The National Woman's Relief Corps have voted to deed to 
any State, free of cost, except the necessary legal fees for deed 
and recording, all the land needed to erect markers or monu- 
ments in memory of the men who died there. The lot deeded 
to the State of Massachusetts for that purpose was 85 by 50 
feet. 

" Your committee decided to recommend the erection of a suit- 
able monument on the old prison grounds, with the names 
inscribed thereon of all the soldiers from Rhode Island who 
died in the prison, so far as they can be obtained. 

" During the summer two members of the committee, Messrs. 
Durfee and Ken3'on, visited the battle-field at Gettysburg to 
see the various monuments erected there, in order to decide 
upon some appropriate design for a monument. This was at 
their own expense. 

" Considerable time has been occupied in obtaining designs, 
and the committee unanimously recommend the design ac- 
companying this report. 



6 ANDERSON VI LLE MONUMENT. 

"It is to be of Westerl}' granite, with the arms of the State 
in bronze on the upper front, with panels on each side, con- 
taining in bronze letters, one inch in height, the name, rank, 
regiment, and date of death of each of the 74 soldiers who are 
buried in the National Cemetery adjoining the prison grounds. 
" Your committee believe that the heroism of these men, who 
chose death rather than dishonor, should be fittingly recog- 
nized by this State, and the least we can do for them is to 
perpetuate their names in granite and bronze. 

"We, therefore, recommend the passage of the resolution 
herewith submitted. 

"E. Iv. FREEMAN, 
"H. P. EEDREDGE, 
"JOHN T. KENYON, 
"WALTER H. DURFEE. 

"Aside from the amount of appropriation asked for, I ap- 
prove the report. 

"EUCIUS F. C. GARVIN." 

The report was favorably received by both houses, and on 
the 4th of December the following resolution was adopted : 

"State of Rhode Island, &c. 
"In General Assembly, 

"December Session, A. D. 1902. 

"Resolution to provide for the erection of a monument at 
Anderson ville, Ga., on ground formerly occupied as a con- 
federate pri.son. 

[Passed December 4, 1902.] 

''Resolved, That the joint special committee appointed under 
the provisions of a resolution adopted by this General Assem- 
bly on April 4, 1902, consisting of Messrs. E. E. Freeman and 
Henry P. Eldredge, on the part of the Senate, and Messrs. 
Walter H. Durfee, John T. Kenyon, and Eucius F. C. Garvin, 



EEPORT OF COMMITTEE. 7 

on the part of the House of Representatives, be continued, and 
the same are hereby authorized to acquire, in the name of and 
for this State, by purchase or otherwise, sufficient land on the 
site formerly occupied as a confederate prison at Anderson- 
ville, Georgia, and to erect there a monument to the memory 
of those Rhode Island soldiers who died in that place. Said 
monument is to be substantially as per design submitted by 
said committee. vSaid committee shall serve without compen- 
sation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses actually 
incurred. 

"Said committee is hereby authorized to contract for the 
building and erection of said monument, and to make the 
necessary arrangements for its dedication. 

" For the purpose of carrying into effect this resolution, the 
sum of sixty-five hundred dollars is hereby appropriated out 
of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, and 
the general treasurer is hereby directed to pay the expenses 
incurred in the erection and dedication of said monument, 
and a sum of not less than five hundred dollars, to be placed 
in trust, the interest thereof to be applied to the perpetual 
care of the monument and lot, upon the receipt of proper 
vouchers approved by the chairman and secretary of said 
committee." 

As soon as the above resolution was adopted the committee 
met and awarded the contract for the granite work of the 
monument to Messrs. A. G. Crumb & Sons, of Westerly, 
they being the lowest bidders. Their contract covered the 
granite work, the freight to Andersonville, putting in founda- 
tion, erecting monument, placing upon the same the bronze 
panels and other bronze work, and other expenses, and also 
the furnishing and putting in position four granite markers 
at the corners of the lot selected by the committee. 

The committee also authorized the secretary to make a con- 
tract with the Gorham Manufacturing Compan}^ of Provi- 
dence, for the bronze panels — containing the names of the sol- 



8 ANDERSON VILLE MONUMKNT. 

diers from this State who died at Andersonville, thirteen stars, 
to represent the thirteen original vStates, and the coat of arms 
of the State in bronze. 

A lot was selected located loo feet from the northwest corner 
of the old stockade, 50 feet from and on a line with the 
Massachusetts monument. The lot contains 4,250 square 
feet, and the deed of the same, received from the Woman's 
National Relief Corps, through the courtesy of Mrs. Lizabeth 
A. Turner, chairman of the Board of Control of the Anderson- 
ville Prison Propert}', was identical with the one given to the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, except in names and loca- 
tion. 

Mr. Kenyon, of the committee, who was in the south early 
in the spring, visited Andersonville, and staked out the lot. 

There were some di.screpancies in the names of the soldiers 
who died at Andersonville, as reported by the superintendent 
of the National Cemetery and as given in the report of the 
Adjutant-General of this State, but the committee, after care- 
ful consideration, decided to accept the names under which the 
persons enlisted. 

Mr. Durfee was authorized to make a contract with Mr. 
George M. Roberts, passenger agent in New England for the 
Pennsylvania R. R. Co., for transportation to Andersonville 
and return b}' the New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. 
Co., the Pennsylvania R. R. Co., the Atlantic Coast Line, and 
the Georgia Central R. R. 

The date of the dedication of the monument was fixed for 
Thursday, April 30, 1903. 

The party consisted of the following persons : 

His Excellency Eucius F. C. Garvin, Governor. 
E. L. Freeman, of Committee of Senate. 
Henry P. Eldredge, of Committee of Senate. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 9 

Wai^TER H. Vf-^^-^ce^.n, of Committee of House of Representa- 
tives. 

John T. Kenyon, of Committee of House of Representatives. 

Robert Grieve, Executive Secretary. 

Col. P. H. OuiNN, Governor's Staff. 

Col. William P. Clarke, Governor's Staff. 

Col. Peter J. Gaskin, Governor's Staff. 

Col. George D. Liddell, Governor's Staff. 

Col. Sylvanus Masox, Goverjwrs Staff. 

Hon. Charles P. Bennett, Secretary of State. 

Hon. Walter A. Read, Ge?ieral Ti-easnrer. 

Hon. Charles C. Gray, State Auditor. 

Hon. Joseph P. Burlingame, Speaker House of Representa- 
tives. 

Hon. A. G. Crumb, Chairman Finance Committee of Senate. 

Col. J. H. Armington, Chairman Finance Committee of 
House of Representatives . 

Rev. Clay MacCauley, Orator of the Day. 

Capt. Emmons D. Guild, Prisoner at Andersonville. 

Capt. James C. Hubbard, Prisoner at A?iderso?iviUe. 

Sidney S. Williams, Prisoner at Andersonville. 

James S. Hudson, Commander Department of Rhode Island, 
Grand Army of the Republic. 

Maj. K. S. Horton, Attleboro, Mass. 

Hon. Joseph W. Freeman, Central Falls. 

Hon. David S. Ray, East Providence. 

Benjamin S. Barber, Providence. 

Thomas A. Pierce, East Greenwich. 

Hon. Samuel E. Peck, Warren. 

Capt. Gideon Spencer, Warwick. 

Hon. Horace F. Horton, Cranston. 

Hon. Herbert M. Gardiner, Barrino^ton. 



10 ANDERSON VILLE MONUMENT. 

Zenas W. BUvSS, Cranston. • ■"■ *' • 

Horace G. Belcher, P7'ovidcnce Journal. 

Frank E. Fitzsimmons, Providenct^^cleg ram . 

WiLEiAM D. Perrin, Provide^ice News. 

Mr. McDonald, Pennsylvania Railroad. 

Mr. Johnson, Atlantic Coast Line. 

Mr. James A. Garvin, of Newton, North Carolina, a brother 
of Gov. Garvin, joined the part}- at Selma, and participated 
in the exercises. 

Mrs. Turner, who had been of great assistance to the com- 
mittee, received an invitation to be their guest, but she went to 
Andersonville several days before the day selected for the cere- 
monies, and personally attended to the grading of the lot and 
other minor particulars. 

The party left Providence on the Federal express, Tues- 
day, April 28, at 8:21 P. M., stopping several hours in Wash- 
ington on the following day, and arrived at Andersonville 
early in the afternoon of Thursday, April 30. 

Immediateh- iipon arrival the party proceeded to the Prison 
Park, about one-half mile from the railroad station, where the 
dedicatory exercises were held as follows: 

OPENING REMARKS BY E. L. FREEMAN. 

''Ladies and Gentlemen : As chairman of the committee ap- 
pointed by the General Assembl}^ to erect and dedicate a 
monument in memory of those of its citizen soldiers who 
suffered and died on this historic ground, it becomes my pleas- 
ing duty to take the initiative in these dedicatory exercises. 
First of all it is most fitting that we should recognize that 
Supreme Ruler of the Universe whose guiding and protecting 
hand was with our fathers when they crossed the ocean and 
first settled upon the shores of this western world, and whose 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 11 

providential care has been extended to us as a nation from 
that to the present time. I therefore call upon the Rev. Cla}- 
MacCaulc}', pastor of the Bell Street Chapel, Providence, to 
lead us in praj-er." 

PRAYER BY REV. CLAY MacCAULEY. 

" Infinite and Eternal Being— Creator, Guide, and Disposer 
of all that is — in everything we do we would be mindful of 
Thee. We thank Thee and praise Thee for our existence; 
and in humility we seek to know, and would faithfully obey, 
Th}- will. Our lives throughout, we would ever turn to Thee 
in faith, gratitude, and hope. The heavens and the earth, the 
myriad-fold realm of living things and the world of men, all 
Thy creatures, are naught without Thee ; only with Thee 
can the}' find power, life, and blessedness, now or ever. 

" Especiall}' to-da}-, in the sacred act for which we have come 
together from afar, do we long for a sense of Thy presence 
and Thy benediction. 

"We bow before Thee now as the God of nations. We 
know that in Th}' Providence — though it be all a myster}^ to 
us — Thou hast a place for wrath, pain, and death, as well as 
for love, jo}^ and a more abounding life. But we have been 
taught, and we believe, that in some way Thou causest even 
the wrath of man and the destruction wrought by his hands 
to praise Thee and to perfect Thy purpose. 

" To-day, memories of the years of anger, fratricidal strife, 
and desolation through which the people of our beloved 
countr}^ once had to pa.ss have been revived for us. We 
have gathered to commemorate the heroic patience and 
fidelity of some of those to whose cause the victor}- in the 
conflict came. We believe that our act is but an expression 
of fitting gratitude and love. 



12 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

" And yet, a larger blessing than grateful and loving memory- 
is our need. We who are living to enjoy the homes these 
patriot dead saved and the privileges of citizenship in our 
free and mighty commonwealth they established, need lives 
worthy our heritage. For ourselves and for all our fellow 
citizens, as well, we pra}'. The dread arbitrament of war de- 
cided for our divided people the questions at issue among 
them, and opened for them wonderful paths of progress and 
achievement in which they could go forward side by side. 
Those who were arrayed against one another are now united 
by a common lo3'alt3" and hope. So our prayer to-da}', O God, 
is, — Make us and all our fellow countrymen worthy the new 
duties and opportunities opened to us. May nothing hence- 
forth endanger our country's libert}', or its progress as the 
leader in human freedom and self-government. May neither 
the greatest gains in wealth or power become a snare to crip- 
ple or to strangle us. May we be ever quick to the call of 
justice or generosity. Ma}^ patience, toleration, and law-abid- 
ing effort alwa3-'s co-operate with justice and generosity, 
among rich and poor, emploj'ers and emplo3'ed, favored or 
unfortunate, and thus continue to safeguard the nation in its 
progress. And also, may our growing power never become 
the victim of an ambition that, in satisfying itself, will harm 
or destroy aniong the earth's peoples. 

" To Thee, the infinitely righteous One, we offer these our 
prayers. And as we now, with reverent gratitude, dedicate this 
monument to our heroic dead, we look to Thee, from whom 
Cometh all good, for inspiration that will consecrate us to the 
best service for our beloved land. What we ask for ourselves 
we ask for all our fellow citizens. 

" We would indeed be that happy people whose God is the 
lyOrd ; for whom righteousness has become the crown ; and 
whose power among men is that of truth and love. Amen." 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 13 

REMARKS OF MRS. LIZABETH A. TURNER, AND 
UNVEILING OF MONUMENT. 

" Your Excellency the Governor of Rhode Island^ Members of 
the Mojiument Commission, and Friends : Forty years ago, on 
this very spot, was being erected a stockade for the confine- 
ment of Union prisoners of war. History has chronicled 
their sufferings and death, and their loyalty to the end. 
Time, with its healing balsam, may cure the wound ; ages 
cannot efface the scar. Rhode Island honors herself when 
she erects a monument to her soldier dead that sleep only a 
few rods away. They enlisted for the Union ; they fought 
for the Union ; they suffered and died for the Union ; and 
you can confidingly leave their sacred ashes in the sun-kissed 
fields of Georgia, for they are still in the Union. Rhode 
Island can claim her share of the heroes that rest with only 
a block of granite with a number to show to the world that a 
soldier of the Union sleeps there — no name, no regiment, to 
tell what State has missed a star from its crown of glory. 
We call these graves unknown, but God has their names on 
His roll-call ; for He gives His angels charge of those that 
sleep, while He Himself watches with those that wake. You 
have blazoned the names of your known dead on lasting 
bronze, and framed them in granite from their own loyal 
State, for they did their .share to make it possible for our 
government to say : one country, one flag, and that flag the 
Stars and Stripes for ever. Now, in the name of Rhode 
Island's soldiers who died on this ground for the integrity of 
the national Union, this monument stands unveiled, that it 
maj^ show to the world that Rhode Island is as loyal to her 
soldier sons as they were loyal to their State and the Union. 
The shadows of the flag they died to defend, as it floats from 



14 ANDERSON VILLE MONUMENT. 

3'onder flag-staff, mingle with the sunshine that comes trail- 
ing through clouds and falls upon j-our monument in a 
solemn benediction." 

REMARKS BY E. L. FREEMAN, CHAIRMAN OF COM- 
MITTEE, AND TRANSFER OF MONUMENT 
TO THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND. 

. " Ladies and Gentlemen : We are assembled here to perform 
a pleasant and sacred duty which has been entrusted to us by 
the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations — the 
State which, though small in territory, has not by any means 
been the least or slowest in the performance of every duty 
which has devolved upon it since its inception and foundation. 
The great doctrine of the entire separation of Church and 
State and the absolute freedom of all its citizens in religious 
matters had its birth and its complete fulfillment in the State 
of Rhode Island. In its Bill of Rights we find the following 
language : ' Whereas, Almighty God hath created the mind 
free, and all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments 
or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend to beget habits of 
hypocrisy and meanness ; and whereas a principal object of 
our venerable ancestors in their migration to this country and 
their settlement of this State, was, as they expressed it, to 
hold forth a lively experiment, that a flourishing civil state 
may stand and be best maintained with full liberty in religious 
concernments : we therefore declare that no man shall be com- 
pelled to frequent or to support any religious worship, place or 
ministry whatever, except in fulfillment of his own voluntary 
contract ; nor enforced, restrained, molested or burdened in 
his body or goods ; nor disqualified from holding any office ; 
nor otherwise suffer on account of religious belief ; and that 
every man shall be free to worship God according to the die- 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 15 

tates of his own conscience, and to profess and b}^ argument 
to maintain his opinion in matters of religion ; and that the 
same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect his civil ca- 
pacity.' 

" The principle that was enunciated by the founder of the 
State, and w^hich was made its corner-stone, still lives, and 
upon that corner-stone has been erected a flourishing State, 
whose history is no ignoble part of the history of our great 
nation. To-day, inscribed in the dome of its new State House, 
a building which has no equal in beauty or utility and adapta- 
tion to the uses for which it was intended in this broad land, 
built of the finest of Georgia marble, can be found this in- 
scription : ' Rara temporum fclicHas ubi senth'e qucE velis et qutz 
sentias dicere licet,' which, freely translated, is, ' O happy times 
when one can think what one chooses, and can speak what he 
thinks.' 

" The part which our little State played in the events which 
led up to the Revolution was not a minor or secondar}^ one. 

" Rhode Island was the first colony to direct her officials to 
disregard the famous Stamp Act. 

" The first recommendation for a permanent Constitutional 
Congress came from the citizens of Providence in town meet- 
ing assembled, and the General Assembh^ of Rhode Island 
was the first of the legislative bodies to send delegates thereto. 

" More than two months before the declaration of independ- 
ence by the Continental Congress, Rhode Island, through her 
General Assembly, formally enacted and declared her inde- 
pendence of Great Britain, and, to use the words of another, 
' she is the oldest independent sovereign government in the 
western world.' 

"The first blood of the Revolution was spilled within her 
borders, and before ' the shot was fired at Lexington which 



16 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

was heard around the world,' prior to the famous tea party 
in Boston harbor, His Royal Majesty's armed sloop 'Liberty' 
had been sunk by men from the town of Newport, and an- 
other of his vessels, the ' Gas pee' had been captured and de- 
stroyed by a party of Providence patriots. 

" All through the Revolution she furnished her full quota of 
men, and much more than her proportion of means. 

" In the war of 1812 she bore her share of the burdens ; and 
it was one of her sons who, after creating a fleet and conquer- 
ing the opposing ships of the British on Lake Erie, sent the 
inspiring words : ' We have met the enemy, and they are 
ours.' 

" In the civil war Rhode Island freely gave of her men, her 
means, and her influence, not from any hatred of the people 
of the South, nor from any partisan or sectional jealousy, but 
simply for the purpose of preserving unimpaired the Union 
which had been handed down from the fathers. 

" In that great conflict, the memory of which almost seems 
like a dream, her citizen soldiers were found in almost every 
great battle, standing vigorously for what they believed to be 
the right, and cheerfully laying down their lives that the 
country might live. 

"On this historic spot, seventy-four of her sons suffered and 
died, and it is in honor of their memory that to-day we erect 
this monument. I have not the ability to properly eulogize 
their heroism, their patient endurance of cold and hunger and 
sickness, and their unfailing loyalty, even to the extent of giv- 
ing up their lives ; that duty will be performed by those who 
will address you during the ceremonies. It remains only for 
me, in my position as chairman of the joint committee of the 
General Assembly, to turn over this completed structure to the 
State of Rhode Island, as represented here by His Excellency 



KEPOET OF COMMITTEE. 17 

the Governor. The committee have finished their work ; it 
remains for the State to see to it that this monument to its 
' Honored Dead ' be kept in complete order, so that the gen- 
erations to come may learn from this memorial, from the 
names of the heroes inscribed thereon, and from the history 
of their intense loyalty, their patient and faithful endurance 
of suffering, their absolute faith in the ultimate triumph of lib- 
erty and union, lessons that shall the better fit them to act well 
their part as citizens of the most favored and glorious nation 
upon which the sun shines ; and prove themselves to be 
worthy successors of those noble men who laid deep the 
foundations of this republic, who established it in spite of 
almost unsurmountable obstacles, and also of those who have 
by equal sacrifices maintained its integrity' and transmitted it 
unimpaired to succeeding generations. 

" The committee desire to extend to Mrs. Lizabeth A. Turner, 
chairman of the Board of Control of the Anderson ville Prison 
Property, their thanks for the interest she has manifested in 
this undertaking and for the great assistance she has been to 
the committee in the prosecution of the work assigned them. 
They also desire to express through her to the National 
Woman's Relief Corps their high appreciation of the motives 
that led that body to purchase this historic ground, and their 
thanks for this fine lot conveyed by them to the State of 
Rhode Island. 

" Governor Garvin, in behalf of the committee of which you 
are an honored member, I transfer this monument to your 
care and keeping as the executive head of the State of Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations." 



18 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

GOVERNOR GARVIN'S ADDRESS. 

" Let Us Have Peace. '' 

"The memories aroused by this spot are sad ones, but the 
occasion itself calls for the deepest gratitude. We maj^ in- 
deed be thankful to meet here in an unbroken nation — as 
brothers, once estranged, but now knit together in the bonds 
of a common history and a common destiny. 

"Those of us who, on either side, participated in the civil 
war, look back upon it as a horrid dream. We wonder that 
a self-governing people could have been so irrational and so 
hard-hearted as to try to settle their differences b}" the arbit- 
rament of war. 

"The four bloody years serve to remind us how small an 
advance our boasted civilization has made from barbarism ; 
how little, indeed, we have risen above the brutes. 

"A few generations ago dueling was regarded in the same 
light that war now is. When two acquaintances had a differ- 
ence, the code of honor permitted, and under some circum- 
stances was thought to compel, them to meet in mortal 
combat. Yet, looking back upon the proceeding, in what 
respect did it differ, in morals, or in its effects, from any 
street brawl? In what way would it have been worse for 
Alexander Hamilton, for his friends, or for his country, had 
he been done to death by a burglar instead of a political 
opponent ? 

"To go upon the field of honor — God save the mark — for 
the purpose and with the intent to kill another, is murder in 
the first degree, even though that other is equall}^ armed and 
equally bent upon destruction. The whole procedure is irra- 
tional, savage, brutal. 



KEPORT OF COMMITTEE. 19 

" War is dueling writ large. Although we do not as yet see 
it, to settle a dispute b^' the method of war or to class its declara- 
tion with other waj^s of arriving at international agreement, 
is to place all who are responsible therefor upon a level with 
the wild beasts, and the individual who is most responsible 
needs courage only to make him a modern Nero. 

" Brutal itself, every war begets a brood of cruelties. Wey- 
ler's reconcentrado policy in Cuba aroused our people to a 
high pitch of righteous indignation. Had we then been 
charged with being equally inhuman, our answer in all sin- 
cerit}' would have been : ' Is thy servant a dog, that he should 
do this thing ? ' And yet within two years we had adopted a 
similar policy in the Philippines, and had added to the Spanish 
ferocity the ' water cure " and the giving of no quarter. 

" About the same time a still more destructive reconcentrado 
policy was adopted by the mighty British empire in dealing 
with the Boers of South Africa. 

" In the opinion of the Southern people, the devastation by 
the Northern army in the Shenandoah valley and in Sher- 
man's march to the sea was unnecessary and inexcusable. 
So thought the North of the sufferings of prisoners here in 
Andersonville. 

" Indeed, when a nation embarks upon the work of slaugh- 
ter, has staked success, and, it may be, its very existence, upon 
the decision of the battlefield, any laws of war — which in 
their nature are arbitrary — have but slight binding force 
upon either combatant. In a business where murder, arson, 
robbery, and fraud are counted as virtues, receiving the high- 
est praise and the greatest reward, it certainly is a fine dis- 
tinction to sa3^ that prisoners should be well treated, and that 
non-combatants, together with their property, should be pro- 
tected. 



20 ANDERSONYILLE MONUMENT. 

" The veterans of the civil war have, I believe, been con- 
servators of peace — assuredl)' this is true of the rank and file. 
After witnessing the ravages of the march, and the carnage 
of the battlefield, they were ready to echo the words of Gen. 
Sherman, ' War is hell.' 

" Unlike a volunteer soldier}', a standing ami}' is a continual 
menace to the pursuits of peace. Regular officers, so far as 
their influence extends, are fomenters of war, ever ready to 
transmute the smiling face of nature into war's horrid visage. 

" Again, the civil department of our national government, 
with whom the power to declare war rests, has on many occa- 
sions shown itself only too ready to second in this respect the 
wishes of the military branch. 

" I have long wished that the presidents and the congressmen 
who are in haste to enter upon an unnecessar}' or aggressive 
war could be compelled to go upon the firing line. No doubt, 
if such a requirement existed, peace would be perpetual ; since 
these verbal fire-eaters, as a rule, take precious good care to 
keep themselves at a safe distance from the hum of shot and 
shell. 

" The war between the States sprang directl}^ from an incom- 
petent and misrepresentative congress. Nobody now desires 
the re-establishment of slavery, and the inherent viciousness 
of that institution might and would, under wise leadership, 
have been recognized and ended without a blood}' emancipa- 
tion. 

" What we need in the United States above all else, in order 
to establish perpetual peace with our neighbors, good will be- 
tween all sections, justice between man and man, and a steady 
advance in prosperity of which all shall be partakers, is a 
system of just representation — a system which will give to 
each minority party, as well as to each majority, its due pro- 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 21 

portion in every legislative body, municipal. State, and na- 
tional. Had such existed before the civil war, the Union 
loving people, both North and South, would have been repre- 
sented in congress much more largely, and the action of that 
bod}-, guided b}' the light of reason, instead of folly, would 
have written for this country another and a far brighter page 
in its histor3\ 

" Certain persons, who give to strenuousness the highest 
place in the list of virtues, are prating of an irrepressible con- 
flict between the Saxon and the Slav. In grandiloquent phrase, 
as though speaking ^'.v cathedra, thej- predict that either 
Russia, on the one hand. Or an Anglo-Saxon alliance, on the 
other, is destined to rule the world, and that the present cen- 
tur}" will see one of these powers subjugated by the other. 
Such talk is w^orthy of consideration only because it tends to 
bring about the deplorable events it foretells. How much 
better and more rational to look forward to a federation of 
nations — a greater United States, not of the Americas alone, 
but of the whole world. 

" Let everj^ brave man's death in this prison, let every monu- 
ment here erected to his memory, be flagstones paving the 
way to universal peace. 

" And may that road be short." 

CITIZEN-LIFE IN MEMORY OF ''OUR HONORED 

DEAD/^ 

Rev. Clay MacCauley, 

Minister of Bell Street Chapel. Pro7'idevce, R. I. 

" In memory of men who, at this place, sacrificed their lives 
that their countrj- might endure among the nations of the 
earth, we are gathered to-day. As a memorial of that sacri- 



22 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

fice, we have dedicated this stately monument. May it remain 
to unnumbered generations a sign of supreme human devo- 
tion, and be always a summons to them, if need be, to show 
like consecration. 

" Here, through hardships almost incredibly severe, thou- 
sands of patriot-soldiers died. With a recreant promise they 
might have lived and gained comparative ease. Death was 
chosen rather than dishonor. Surrounded now by the graves 
of this martyr-host, we bow in homage, and we meditate with 
proud gratitude upon their heroism. 

" All those whose bodies lie here are objects of reverent 
remembrance ; but among them, peculiarly sacred to us, are 
the seventy-four whose names stand forth in lustrous bronze 
upon that block of granite. Our Rhode Island, the smallest 
of the commonwealths of the United States, sent more than 
twenty-three thousand men into the ranks of the army of the 
Union. Many of these yielded their lives upon fields of 
battle; many more died in hospitals of wounds and disease 
received in service ; 3'et more — hundreds — were victims of 
the privations and cruelties that wretchedly distinguished the 
military prisons maintained by the enemies of the Union. 
This Andersonville stockade was only the largest and most 
deadly of the Confederate prisons. The Rhode Island soldiers 
who died here were few compared with the fourteen thousand 
comrades with whom they perished. We have erected this 
monument to these few, since they are especially endeared to 
us by the ties of immediate citizenship, of kindred, and of 
home ; but in our memorial we are, as well, showing grateful 
reverence to the whole patriot-host. Rhode Island was vitally 
one in the memorable fraternity of States that saved the Fed- 
eral Union from destruction. In fact, through this special 
tribute from our small commonwealth, we are commemorating, 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 23 

too, all the heroes who died for their comitr}' in the conflict 
of forty years ago. 

" I have named these dead, patriots and heroes. I speak 
deliberatel3^ In the truest sense of the words, all the soldiers 
who were martyred on this spot, and who died from disease, 
wounds, or in battle, may rightfully be cherished in memory 
as patriot-heroes. The four-score, who.se names shine on 
tho.se tablets; the thousands who are interred in j^onder 
cemetery; the man}' thou.sands who lie in unmarked and un- 
named graves on the hills and plains of the South ; the hun- 
dreds of thousands of those whose names and places of burial 
are known and cared for throughout the land ; all those who 
in any wa)' sacrificed their lives in effort to defend the Union 
from those who would destroy it, are now exalted for man- 
kind as types of patriotic and heroic manhood. These soldier- 
dead do not remain in memory as the individualized men they 
were — that is to say, as they were known by those with whom 
they were in daily and familiar association. As definite per- 
sonalities they were, like all other men, in man}- ways limited. 
Many of them may have been far from realizing in common 
life the best ideals of manhood — of life in the home, in societN', 
in the church. The whole broad range of human character, 
possibl}', from personal baseness to the highest sainthood, 
could be found among them. But such distinctions do not 
characterize them for us. They exist for us now as men 
transfigured and glorified by the sublime idea to which they 
were faithful unto death. For us they are freed from the 
limitations of ordinary life ; separated from their failings 
under personal weaknesses ; released from the errors, vice, 
and even crime into which they ma}' have fallen in the strug- 
gle for existence. We know them now, above all, under 
the one di.stinction — defenders of their country, faithful in 



24 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

that service unto death. They are America's patriot-heroes. 
We may freely give them the highest eulogies of heart and 
brain. To them, as men having made real the patriot's ideal, 
our monument is raised and will bear witness into the coming 
centuries. 

" The stor}" of the Confederate States military prison at 
Andersonville has often been told. I shall not repeat it. Yet 
some of its more important facts should be recalled at this 
time, in order that the full depth of the meaning of our dedi- 
cated work shall be clearly understood. 

"Towards the close of 1863, the Federal armies began to 
press closely upon the Confederate lines. Then, also, as it 
happened, the parole and exchange of prisoners of war 
thitherto prevailing became seriously obstructed ; obstacles 
to it were raised by the Confederate government over ques- 
tions concerning the captured negro soldiers of the Union. 
Consequently the numbers of war prisoners, held both in the 
south and in the north, were greatly increased. The continued 
advances of the Federal armies imperilled the hold of the 
Confederates upon the Union prisoners confined in Richmond 
and near the border of conflict. It was decided, then, to send 
the larger part of the captives into the less vulnerable interior 
of the country. Andersonville was chosen as the main place 
for their detention. Evidently, in selecting this locality, there 
was no purpose to produce the tragic results that at length 
made the prison a reproach to humanity and fixed a horrible 
blot upon modern civilization. This plateau is well adapted 
b}" nature to meet the physical needs of human life. It is 
temperate in climate ; it was plentifull}' wooded ; it has water 
abundant in quantity and pure in quality' ; and it has a porous 
soil easil)' drained. Railway communication with it was easy, 
and the means of transportation were ample and unobstructed. 




'^tfagSMeatawiiaiaeiiatjiJaBtte. 



Ohio State Monument. 



EEPORT OF COMMITTEE. 25 

But, almost from the day this military prison was established, 
its management, to say the best of it, was one of misfortune and 
of misjudgment. And, speaking of its further management, 
we must declare, notwithstanding all that may be said in ex- 
tenuation, it became, and to the end continued to be, one of 
grossest inhumanity and even of terrible crime. 

" As originally planned, an area about eighteen acres in ex- 
tent was set apart for the prison, and enclosed as an open 
stockade. The forest that stood on these slopes was felled by 
enforced negro labor, and the timber transformed into a double 
wall, making an inner enclosure approximately a thousand 
feet long by eight hundred wide. That creek, flowing across 
the enclosure, was left as a water supply. The full capacity 
for the prison, as at first determined, was for ten thousand 
men. 

" In February, 1864, the stockade was ready for its use. 
Here, in the midst of pine woods, it stood ; the ground bared 
of tree and even of shrub ; empty of everything that could fit 
it for human habitation ; awaiting the coming of the unfor- 
tunates doomed to it by the hazards of war. The fifteenth 
day of the month, 860 soldiers from the north, despoiled first 
of most of the articles for personal service or comfort they 
carried, were driven through one of the stockade-gates, the 
first of the ill-fated host. Not a thing for their shelter was 
given them ; not a shred of clothing or bit of covering for 
the nights did the}' receive. As a matter of course, food was 
provided, but from the outset that was neither ordinarily nu- 
tritious nor sufficient in quantity. The increasing poverty 
of the Confederacy explains in part — not wholly — this fault. 
By the end of the month, the number of prisoners had become 
1,600. Before March had closed fully 5,000 men were here, 
and the twelve acres only that the prisoners could use of the 
4 



26 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

eighteen within the stockade were uncomfortabh' occupied. 
Already in March, by reason of exposure to the var3'ing cold, 
sleet, rain, and heat of the winter and spring, and by reason of 
increasingly poor and insufficient food, sickness had begun to 
make fatal attacks upon the prisoners. The men had secured 
no shelter from the weather except such poor protection as could 
be gained from pits dug into the hillsides, or from the blankets 
stretched over them upon stakes, and the coats and the dog- 
tents which some of them had carried on their persons when 
captured. As early as the month of March, diarrhoea, dysen- 
terj^ even scurv)^ and other diseases consequent upon the con- 
ditions prevailing, caused the extraordinary death-rate of nine 
each da}-. For .some time the authorities in charge of the 
prison paid no attention whatever to the sick, beyond the 
issue of some inferior medicines to those who applied for 
them. Not until the month of May was an attempt made to 
establish a hospital. By the end of April more than 8,000 
men had been put into the stockade, and the average daily 
death list had increased to nineteen. When Ma\' had closed 
more than 15,000 men were crowded together here. The 
established capacity of the prison had not only been reached, 
but it had been passed to the extent of more than 5,000. 
Imagine what this fact means. Ami}- regulations give to 
each soldier, in a well-ordered camp, a space of 1,731 square 
feet. In the necessarily compact area of a fortress he is 
allowed 244 square feet. In barracks, where the densest quar- 
tering of soldiers is made but where every man is thoroughly 
sheltered and h^-gienic precautions are carefull}^ provided and 
cared for, 54 square feet are given. But here, where there 
was neither shelter nor any sanitar}' regulation whatever, the 
original plans had allowed for each person onl}- 50 square feet 
when the limit of 10,000 occupants should be reached. Yet, 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 27 

in May, with 15,000 prisoners under charge, less than 30 
square feet, or six feet square, was all the space each man 
could have claimed as his own had the whole available area 
been equalh* divided among them. The average daily death 
rate had then become twenty-three, and the number of the sick 
had mounted into the thousands. From that time on horrors 
fast accumulated. In June, 26,000 men were herded on this field, 
and that stream's banks had become a vile and pestiferous bog. 
The mortality averaged forty dail3^ In July, there were 
31,000 victims here, and fifty-eight of them died each day. 
The mass of helpless humanity became more than 32,000 in 
August, and had they all then stood equally apart each would 
have possessed a bit of ground less than six feet b}' three feet in 
area — no more than is allowed for one when he is in his coffin. 
The average of daily deaths then had become almost incredibly 
large — one hundred men perished each da3\ On August 23d 
one hundred and twenty-seven died. During this extremity of 
horrors the stockade was lengthened by about 600 feet, and in 
September the number of the prisoners had been reduced to 
nearly 10,000. Yet the daily death list, instead of decreasing, 
had proportionately increased. All the captives were more or 
less pro.strate with disease, and there were eighty deaths daily. 
This unparalleled immolation continued throvighout October. 
Among the 4,200 prisoners here then, fifty died each day ; a 
monthly, average of more than one in three. Thirteen was the 
daily mortality of the 2,000 prisoners here in November. Then 
these days of doom were somewhat eased. The coming of 
colder weather, the lessened number of inmates, utilization of 
vacated places of shelter, a consequent larger proportionate 
supply of food, lessened the awful martyrdom to about five 
daily. With this condition of affairs the winter passed. At 
the advent of spring the war was closed, and the horrible 



28 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

record of the Anderson ville military prison was ended. For 
the thirteen months that this pri.son-pen was in existence, 
altogether 44,882 Union .soldiers were confined in it. Nearly 
14,000 of this number perished here, and hundreds, prob- 
ably thousands, more died elsewhere from the effects of their 
imprisonment. In that cemetery lies all that is mortal of 
13,706 soldiers of the Union who met death at this place ; 
12,780 whose names are known, 926 of whose names and 
homes no trace remains. 

" We need not recall at length the causes that made possible 
this record, unequalled though it is in the history of like 
human tragedies. But, for the sake of my purpose, there are 
some further facts we should remember. For instance, there 
was but one bakery for the prison, which, had it been 
worked continuously, night and day, could not have supplied 
fully more than 5,000 men with bread. Each prisoner w-as 
supposed to have an allowance from the authorities of from 
2 to 4 ounces of bacon, and of from 4 to 1 2 ounces of corn-bread 
daily, with now and then a half-pint of bean, pea, or sweet- 
potato soup. Under the conditions prevailing, however, this 
allowance was always inconstant and insufficient, and often 
of the poorest quality. Vegetables and fresh meats were 
practically no part of the food-supply. Fuel was a rare 
luxury : it was obtained in large part by digging from the 
prison ground the roots of the pine trees that had been felled. 
Clothing was soon w^orn out and off. A large part of the 
time the men were more or less unclothed, and were exposed 
to heat, rain, and cold. As no kind of camp sanitation was 
possible, the repulsive and disease-breeding state of the prison 
may be imagined. What the hospital, to which at length 
some of the sick were taken, was, may be understood when 
we learn that the first hospital, established in May, prepared 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 29 

for I, GOO men, was soon occupied by 4,000. It had neither 
walls nor beds. A roof upon upright stakes was about all 
that made it different from an open field. Beds were the 
ground ; food was corn-bread and bacon ; the nursing given 
was but the rudest attention to necessary want — often not 
that. The mortality in the hospital exceeded 9,000 ; and also, 
be it remembered, more than 4,200 deaths took place in the 
ditches and pits of the open stockade. Altogether the death- 
rate in the number of those who were under medical charge 
here was seventy-six per cent. In an ordinary army hospital 
the percentage is usuall}' not more than two and three. 
These are facts in the history of sick humanity, when not 
stricken by a pestilence, that are not to be found repeated else- 
where. The}' appall the imagination. 

"Who or what was responsible for this awful mortality we 
need not now answer. Judicial investigation at the close of 
the war placed the responsibility for it where it belonged. 
There let it lie. The commandant of the prison died of apo- 
plexy in February, 1865. The superintendent was executed 
as a murderer, by sentence of the United States courts, in the 
autumn following. 

I recall this much of the story of Andersonville chieily 
that we may appreciate anew the supreme measure of 
patriotic devotion which those men showed to whom this 
and the other monuments here stand as memorials. The past 
is past ; the bitterness of memory has gone ; the United States 
is to-day a federal union of all the commonwealths that were 
arrayed against one another half a century ago ; the union of 
the States has been cemented b)- common suffering and death 
in a recent war waged in behalf of civil freedom and inde- 
pendence; inexorable circumstances probably, along with 
positive inhumanit}', were back of the facts I have quoted ; 



30 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

even at the time, so I read, public feeling in this neighbor- 
hood, in a measure, revolted from the tragic scenes dis- 
closed in the stockade,- and some earnest expressions of 
sympathy and some protests in the name of humanit}' are 
preserved at Washington as having been sent from here to 
the Confederate government b}' Confederate medical men and 
statesmen. I do not revive the past, except as it is at this time 
m}' duty to make clear and to emphasize anew the sublimit}' 
of the devotion of the dead whom it is our privilege, now and 
always, to honor. 

" Yet, imperative though this dut}- is, the homage we should 
give these patriot-heroes is not shown wholl}' b}- remember- 
ing their trial and mart3'rdom. That stands as an object- 
lesson to all generations of the fortitude of patriotic conse- 
cration, and it must not be lost from among the teachings of 
history. But there are other and equally worth}- waj-s of 
honoring these men who were martj-rs for their countrj-'s 
sake. 

" When we consider the radical meaning and the issues of 
the civil war, and when we note the development of the new 
era which was instituted for our country through their vic- 
torious defence of the national Union, we shall see that, after 
all, there is an honor befitting the patriot dead fully equal to 
that which recollects and magnifies their devotion. There is 
the homage that would be shown in the giving of one's own 
person, one's own faith and energy, to preserving inviolate the 
principles for which they died and in perfecting the civic ideal 
which they made of possible realization. That is homage 
truly worthy their deeds and befitting our gratitude. 

" What was the radical meaning of the conflict between the 
North and the South ? It was not essentially either the pres- 
ervation of the Union of the States or the destruction of negro 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 31 

slavery. Both these objects were like banners in the conflict. 
They gave it immediate motive and direction. The Union was 
saved, it is true ; and true it is that millions of negroes were 
emancipated from slavery. But these things were rather 
occasions than causes. The radical cause of the struggle 
was the theory of State sovereignty then dominant in many 
of the States of the Union : the final cause of the struggle 
was the unification and the centralization of civil power, 
for all the countrj^, in the Federal government. Before the 
war the United States had no thoroughly organized civil life. 
The States formed rather a confederacy than a federal 
unity. The national idea had then only partial recognition 
and support. Even in some of the States of the North, se- 
cession had often been proclaimed by statesmen and political 
agitators the resort for local relief. In the South, secession 
as a State right was a ruling political principle. It was this 
proclaimed right that gave vitality to the protest made by the 
slave States against any Federal regulation of slavery within 
their borders, or of the transference of slaves to the territories 
held as common property by the United States. The real 
meaning of the civil war, therefore, was the establishment of 
the supremacy of the Federal Union over State sovereignty. 
At the close of the war the doctrine of State sovereignty, as 
opposed to that of the dominance of the Union, had become 
impotent. Except as expressly provided for in the Federal 
constitution, it had been destroyed. The United States had 
become a coherent nation. Governmental centralization was 
the radical meaning of the great civil war. 

" With a definitely centralized and supreme government, the 
unified United States began for itself a new era. The issues 
of that event have been, beyond all conception, marvellous. 
They are, moreover, of profoundest moment. It is these 



32 ANDERSON VILLE MONUMENT. 

issues that now press upon every lover of his country for 
grave consideration. And it is these issues that now open to 
all of us opportunity' for honoring the patriot dead fully equal 
to that of building monuments of granite and bronze in their 
memory and of eulogizing their heroism. Consequent upon the 
centralization of our government, a period of national progress, 
expansion, and prosperity, such as had never before been 
known, became possible. Politically, industrially, commer- 
ciall}^ socially, in all the relations of a people, the future opened 
in ways thitherto hardh' even imagined. For the first time 
then, it became actually possible for statesmen to initiate, 
without serious opposition, public measures including all parts 
of the country. Capitalists could then plan systems of trans- 
portation that could be perfected regardless of the boundaries of 
the States. Railway building, to an extent thitherto undreamed 
of, was initiated. The western territories were rapidl}' occu- 
pied by settlers, and new States created. Even the Pacific 
coast was soon bound by rail lines to the ports of the At- 
lantic. Manufacturers, too, could systematize their agencies of 
production and distribution, with reference to all parts of the 
Union. Mills, factories, all .sorts of centers of new industry, 
were started that manufacture might meet the needs of the 
rapidl}' increasing population. Trade became the beneficiary 
of a uniform banking system and a common currency. The 
feeble one among the world's governments speedily took on 
the proportions and strength of a giant. The growing might 
of this country, during the past generation, has become one of 
the marvels of histor}-. Were there nothing other to say of 
this new era, we could spend our time fittingh* in glorifying 
America's recent progress in power and wealth in its indus- 
tries, commerce, intelligence, and wisdom. 

" But all has not been a wholesome gain in the country's recent 



KEPORT OF COMMITTEE. 33 

development. And, at this exceptionally distinguishing time, 
while we are commemorating the patriot dead who made pos- 
sible our nation's new advances and triumphs, it will be well 
for us to remember the serious perils to the nation that have 
arisen in its progress. These perils should cause us earnest 
thought to-day, and lead us into a yet closer allegiance to the 
sacred cause for which these patriots died. 

"Power is a name of grand sound and meaning. Power is 
the fact that most marks the gains made by the American 
people under their centralized national Union. 

" The American people have become in wealth, for example, 
the most powerful of all the peoples of the earth. Also in 
political prestige, they have not only advanced with amazing 
speed into partnership with the world-powers, but are making 
rapid approaches towards leadership among them. The 
American Union is to-day to be distinguished among nations 
as bearing, practically, the scepter of both financial and 
political supremac3^ 

" In this double supremacy lies our greatness, but with it also 
has come portentous peril. All, who have eyes to see, must 
recognize the dangers besetting us. And all, who have con- 
sciences to obey, must feel that these dangers should be met 
and overcome. 

" Our growing national power, both in finance and statehood, 
holds nothing in itself either undesirable or threatening. There 
is no need to abdicate it in either direction. Let it go on from 
more to more. But there is need, when we remember the 
course of human history, for us to listen to the warning — at 
no place more fitly than here — that what rebellion could not 
do forty years ago, self-delusion and willfulness, in the not 
distant future, can bring to pass ; and there is al.so need that 
we and all our fellow citizens should earnestly resolve that 



34 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

this disaster shall not befall the nation. A vivid forewarning 
of one of the dangers of which I speak exists, a.scribed to 
Abraham I^incoln, himself a martyr to the passions en- 
gendered by civil rebellion. I will not associate it with the 
martyred president, since, so far as I know, it does not appear 
among his published utterances. But the words have come 
down to us from the time of the civil war, and are prophetic. 
Their writer, whoever he was, said : ' I see in the near future 
a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to 
tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, 
corporations have been enthroned ; an era of corruption in 
high places will follow% and the money power of the country 
will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the pre- 
judices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in a 
few hands and the republic is destroyed. I feel more anxiety 
for the safety of my countr}' than ever before, even in the 
midst of war.' There could not be a more intelligent fore- 
boding or a better grounded prophecy of danger than lies in 
these words. During the generation that has passed since 
the words were .spoken, some excesses of the mone}- power of 
America have almo.st ju.stified this patriotic solicitude. The 
control, at least, of the country's wealth has been aggregated 
in a few hands. The republic, it is true, is not destroyed. 
But what intelligent man does not know that a genuine ' gov- 
ernment of the people, by the people, and for the people' in 
the United States is on the verge of passing under the will of 
an oligarchy in finance, developed through the opportunities 
that were made for it by the centralization of civil supremacy 
in the Federal Union. It was this centralization only that 
opened the field for the enormous railw^ay consolidations, 
'trusts,' and 'mergers' that control the transportation agen- 
cies of the country. It was this centralization only that gave 



n 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 35 

opportunity for the hundreds of combinations that now concen- 
trate the products of agricuhure, of manufacture, and of the 
trades of the people under arbitrary direction at single centers. 
Yes, the grand issue of the civil war, the centralized Federal 
Union, is the means by which our country's speedy and 
splendid achievements in material prosperity were made ; but 
it also opened ways to the incoming, with these gains, of the 
gravest dangers. With all our wisdom and strength we 
should seek to prevent their marring the true welfare of the 
republic. 

" Nor ma}^ we be unmindful of the perils besetting our nation 
in its grow'th in political power and dominion. If any decla- 
ration concerning our country should be held true, it is this; — 
the republic was never intended for transformation into an 
empire. The war for the Union wrought the salvation of a 
republic ; and it involved the emancipation of an enslaved 
race. The recent war with Spain was proclaimed to be a war of 
humanitarianism. That war was carried through by proclama- 
tions inspiring our people to go to the rescue of the downtrodden, 
and to secure the upbuilding of a sister republic among the 
islands of the Mexican gulf. Every lover of this country, a 
country made free and independent by the war of the revolu- 
tion and established by the civil war as a nation of freemen 
and helpers of the oppressed of all lands, of course hails with 
delight the expansion of the Union as a democracy, either in 
territory or by the spread of its principles throughout the world's 
peoples. Highest praise be given to the people of the United 
States for every act that tends towards these achievements. But 
let us not forget that there are mighty cliques, within the circles 
of the country's industr}^ and trade, seeking control of legislation 
and administration, determined, for the sake of gain, to exercise 
arbitrary power at home and to extend the nation's political 



30 ANDEIISONVILLE MONUMENT. 

dominion, whatever the cost may be to any weak race or 
people that happens in their way. With this danger afflicting 
the body politic, I can not do better than quote from the ac- 
knowledged writings of our martyred President Lincoln some 
pertinent comments and counsel. He spoke with a clear sense 
of the danger that results from such political ambition as im- 
pels men under its temptations to set aside the fundamental 
teachings of the founders of the republic. His words, 
written at the opening of the nation's struggle with those of 
its citizens who held slaves and supported slavery, could be 
written to-day, with essentially unchanged meaning, and ap- 
plied to those Americans who are heedlessly dragging their 
country into new relations made possible by the Spanish war. 
' It is now no child's play,' wrote Mr. Lincoln, ' to save the 
principles of Jefferson from total overthrow. The principles 
of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society. 
And yet they are denied and evaded with no small show of 
success. One calls them " glittering generalities." Another 
bluntly calls them " self-evident lies." And others insidiously 
argue that they appl}' to " superior races." These expressions 
are identical in object and effect — that is, the supplanting of 
the principles of free government. They would delight a 
convocation of crowned heads plotting against the people. 
We must repulse them or they will subjugate us. Those who 
deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and 
under a just God cannot long retain it. All honor to Jeffer- 
son, who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national 
independence by a single people, introduced into a merely 
revolutionary document an abstract truth, applicable to all 
men and all times, so that to-day and in all da3's it shall be 
a rebuke and a stumbling block to the very harbingers of 
re-appearing tyranny and oppression.' 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 37 

" Surrounded by these dead, with consciences fully awakened, 
let us ponder over lyincoln's solemn words. Here lie the bodies 
of heroes in the struggle to perpetuate the Federal Union, 
that was devoted by its founders to civil freedom and inde- 
pendence for themselves and for all peoples striving to found 
free States. 

" Upon that tablet, heading the list of Rhode Island's mar- 
tyrs, stands the inscription, ' Our Honored Dead.' Do those 
words really speak the truth for us and for our fellow citizens ? 
We all honor them, of course, as brave men, as valiant sol- 
diers in battle, and as resolutely suffering even unto life's end. 
But do we honor them b}- striving to realize for ourselves the 
ideal for which they died ? Is it our will that nionied oligar- 
chies shall not dictate national and State legislation ; that they 
shall not monopolize the machinery of industry and control 
the channels of commerce? Shall press, rostrum, and pulpit 
remain vantage platforms for free thought and speech ? Shall 
all our people have full opportunity to succeed or fail as per- 
sonal worth and ability may determine ? If so, then these 
graves do hold the bodies of ' Our Honored Dead.' Also, are 
our sympathies still with the downtrodden and oppressed of 
all races and nations ? Are we seeking to help, and not to 
hinder, young democracies in their struggles towards au- 
tonomy ? Are we endeavoring to uplift all our own citizens 
into intelligence and self-reliance so that they may become 
fit to co-operate with us in the privileges and duties of mem- 
bership in a free commonwealth, and prepared to share with 
us the responsibilities of personal liberty ? In a word, is the 
primal star of civil freedom and independence still bright 
upon the brow of Columbia, the personified American re- 
public ? If so, then, in the highest sense of the words, these 
are ' Our Honored Dead.' Profoundly do I believe that the 



38 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

truest memorial that can stand for the soldier dead, who lie 
here and throughout our land, is not monuments of granite 
and bronze, but is citizen-life devoted to the support and 
triumph of the nation's ideal. What we are doing to-da}^ 
should, of course, be done ; but a yet better commemoration 
for these dead is an enduring monument built, within a really 
free and democratic State, of upright citizenship and of insti- 
tutions that serve and advance the best civic virtues. 

" There can be no doubt of the coming supremacy among 
nations of the American Union. Whether the plea I am 
making be heeded or not, the United States will soon be the 
overtopping giant among the world-powers. This achieve- 
ment is sure to be made merely by the momentum of the 
forces that are to-day impelling our civil and social life. But, 
this notwithstanding, there can also be no doubt that, should 
our people succumb to the dangers now besetting them, the 
fate hitherto manifest in the careers of nations will be repeated 
for us. Upon heedless wealth and political ambition will fol- 
low luxur}', effeminac}^, and vice hand in hand with oppres- 
sion, popular degredation, and civic corruption. Before these, 
if unstopped, the repviblic, saved from disunion, must perish. 
Intestine strife, anarchy, and consequent despotism await the 
unrestricted usurpations that i.ssue from a reckless monied 
power and a greed for political empire. 

" Nor, on the other hand, is there any doubt of the coming 
supremacy of the American Union among nations if the plea 
I am making be sincerely heeded. This achievement would 
be as inevitably .secured under a real government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people as it would be were 
oligarchies, covetous of wealth and political empire, to direct 
the development of the republic. Indeed, .should the attempts 
now being made to establi.sh exclusive monopolies of the in- 



EEPORT OF COMMITTEE. 39 

dustrial and commercial instrumentalities of the country be 
checked and thwarted, and should our people maintain their 
political heritage inviolate, future historians would not onl}^ 
be able to eulogize the greatness of the United States, but, 
better still, its grandeur. Also they could safely prophesy 
their increase so long as popular faith and loyalty should 
endure. 

"Which course shall our people take ? There should be no 
hesitation over the answer. On this sacred ground, urged by 
all the memories that throng into speech, seems to come the 
warning : ' Ye build a memorial of granite and bronze to 
your honored dead. This is well. But unless your memorial 
is also the sign of a memorial made of the purpcses and deeds 
of living men inspired by the ideal of the State for which 
these heroes gave their lives, ye have, for the better part, 
raised this monument in vain.' 

"The legend upon Rhode Island's seal of state, which there 
stands as the frontlet upon our monument, is ' Hope.' Let 
this legend inspire us to-day. I have spoken of grave perils 
besetting the republic. It was my duty to speak of them, 
because they exist and because they are here fittingly a sub- 
ject of speech. That they give reason for present solicitude 
much serious public discussion makes clear, and I am only 
voicing the deliberate proclamations of both the great political 
parties that to-day are seeking the support of popular suffrage. 
In the platforms of both these parties the dangers of which I 
speak are clearly recognized. One part}' strongly condemns ' all 
conspiracies and combinations to restrict business, to create 
monopolies, to limit production, or to control prices.' It prom- 
ises ' to restrain and to prevent such abuses, and to preserve the 
rights of competition to all who are engaged in industry and 
commerce.' It also declares ' that the mission of America is 



40 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

to assure independence and self-government to Cuba, and to 
confer on all the rescued peoples of conquered Spanish terri- 
tory the blessings of liberty and civilization.' The other great 
party asserts that ' private monopolies are indefensible and 
intolerable — a robber of both producer and consumer.' And it 
brands ' temptation towards imperial power as a peril involving 
the very existence of our free institutions.' I am making, 
therefore, no ungrounded or partisan appeal. And every true 
child of the patriot sires of a century ago, the founders of our 
republic, and of their heroic sons, the preservers of the Union, 
in his heart of hearts must endorse this appeal. vSurel}' the 
American people will, in the end, resist successfully the 
dangers that now beset them. So, then, notwithstanding the 
portentous gravity of the perils gathering about our national 
life, let our forecast here be that of hope ; and, while we hope, 
let us highly resolve to do well our part, that the foes threat- 
ening the republic's life shall be destroyed. 

" Pledged, then, to the building of the grander monument of 
living patriotic purpose and deed, we have dedicated this 
memorial of granite and bronze. I^et this monument ever 
stand as witness of our grateful homage to our patriot heroes ; 
and let it be a token also of our renewed fidelity, as citizens 
of the republic, to carrying forward and perfecting the work 
for which these heroes ' gave the last full measure of devotion.' 
If faithfulness shall follow our pledge, then these honored 
dead will have become truly honored, and their supreme 
sacrifice will not have been made in vain." 




Massachusetts State Monument. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 41 

Hon. Joseph P. Buri^ingame, Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, made a brief but very forcible and pleasant 
address, exhorting all citizens to unite their efforts for the up- 
building of our whole country in all those conditions that go 
to make up a great nation. 

The day was a most delightful one, bright but not uncom- 
fortably warm, with a refreshing breeze. There was an audi- 
ence of nearly two hundred persons, some of whom had 
driven twelve miles or more to participate in the exercises, 
and nothing occurred to mar the pleasure of the day. 

At the conclusion of the dedicatory services the members 
of the party made a tour of inspection of the grounds, those 
who had previously been prisoners pointing out the various 
locations and giving interesting reminiscences of the past and 
of their daily life and suffering while there confined. 

Quite a number visited the National Cemetery, which is but 
a short distance away, and gazed with reverence upon the 
graves where sleep nearly fourteen thousand of the men who 
counted not their lives dear, when laid down at the call of 
loyalty and patriotism. There are thirteen thousand of those 
mounds, which are marked with neat headstones, suitably in- 
scribed with the name and military record of the deceased. 
There are also nine hundred and twenty-six graves without 
name or residence or date ; but their names are registered on 
high, and will be known at the final roll-call. 

The neat and convenient house owned by the National 
Woman's Relief Corps was thrown open, and all were cor- 
dially welcomed. This home was erected by the Department 
of Massachusetts Woman's Relief Corps, and presented by it 
to the national organization. Through the courtesy of Mrs. 
Turner, refreshments were served to all who desired, and an 

6 



42 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

entertainment of songs and recitations by colored children 
was a very pleasing and enjoyable feature of the evening. 

RECEPTION AT AUGUSTA, GA. 

At 10:32 P. M. the train left for Augusta, Georgia, which 
was reached at 7 : 45 the next morning. Here we were met 
by a delegation from the Chamber of Commerce, who gave 
notice that a committee of entertainment would wait upon us 
for the purpose of welcoming the Governor and extending 
the hospitalities of the city. At 10 o'clock, the committee, 
consisting of the following gentlemen, Mr. James B. Walker, 
President of the Chamber of Commerce, Hon. Boykin Wright, 
Hon. J. C. C. Black, Messrs. J. W. Dickey, W. E. Bush, C. E. 
Clark, W. M. Martin, W. B. Young, W. M. Jackson, N. L. 
Willet, R. E. Hunt, Bowdre Phinizy, George Nees, A. W. 
Anderson, H. H. Cumming, Thomas Barrett, Jr., J. P. Verdery, 
T. W. Alexander, H. H. Hammond, D. B. Dyer, E. B. Hook, 
Nisbet Wingfield, H. H. Alexander, and T. C. White, met the 
party at the depot. One by one the local committee filed into 
the Governor's coach and welcomed him and the other Rhode 
Islanders, with hearty hand-clasps, to the city of Augusta. 

Governor Garvin responded as cordially, as did all the mem- 
bers of the party. Hand-shaking was indulged in until every- 
body had met everybody else, and verbal bouquets were ex- 
changed, as were also bouquets from nature's garden ; for Col. 
D. B. Dyer had brought along a large and lovely assortment 
of the choicest roses from " Chateau I^e Vert," and each one 
of the visitors was decorated with a red or white rose. 

" To the Governor of Rhode Island," was the toast proposed 
by Hon. Boykin Wright. 

" Georgia, Augusta, her gem city," was the next toast pro- 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 43 

posed by the Rhode Island delegation. Applause rang 
through the crowded car. 

After the pleasantries were exchanged the party emerged 
from the coach and proceeded to the waiting trolleys. The 
party were then taken out to Broad street, dow^n Broad to the 
Lincoln street terminus, back to Broad, and around the belt 
line via vSummerville. 

At "Chateau Le Vert," Col. Dyer's beautiful home, the 
hosts and guests left the trolleys and were shown over the 
residence of Col. DN'er, his splendid collection of curios, an- 
tiques, and Indian relics eliciting numerous murmurs of ap- 
proval from the visitors. 

Refreshments were served, and the party resumed the ride 
back to the city. The trip back was via the Monte Sano line. 
Arriving at the monument, the party went to the Commercial 
Club, and there for an hour speech-making was indulged in, 
in which the distinguished gentlemen of the State of Rhode 
Island and their hosts paid pretty tributes to the northern and 
to the southern commonwealths. 

Mr. R. Eugene Hunt, general superintendent of the local 
electric railway lines, was the first speaker, and his words 
made a great hit. He said : 

" Gentlemen of Geoj-gia and Rhode Island : I have a toast 
for you. It is to the Governor of Rhode Island, Hon. ly. F. 
C. Garvin, and the future Governor of Georgia, the Hon. 
Boy kin Wright." (Applause.) 

To this the Hon. Boykin Wright responded as follows : 

" This is not a time for prepared speeches, and I only can 
say that while it is unexpected to have my name linked with 
the highest office in the bestowal of the people of this State, 
I mo.st lieartil}' welcome the gentlemen from Rhode Island in 
behalf of the people of Georgia. There is one other of us 



44 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

who should be heard from now, the Hon. J. C. C. Black." 
(Applause.) 

Major Black then took the floor, and his eloquence, as well 
as his familiarity with Rhode Island historj-, surprised and 
delighted the Rhode Island men. He spoke substantially as 
follows : 

" Gentlemen of Rhode Island : Though I am only a private 
citizen of this fair city, and not an official, I do most cordially 
welcome you. Mr. Wright has welcomed you in the name of 
the State of Georgia, I now, on behalf of my fellow citizens 
of Augusta and the people at large, extend to you a cordial 
welcome. (Applause.) 

" We are pleased to greet the gentlemen from Rhode Island, 
the State that has given to the world that great apostle of re- 
ligious freedom, Roger Williams, who laid down the corner- 
stone of liberty in saying that it was the divine prerogative, 
not human, to legislate in that cause. (Applause.) Of the 
State that furnished to the country in her dire need the first 
squadron of the Revolutionary war and placed in command 
that greatest of all great commodores, Paul Jones. (Great 
applause.) That which gave to the world Gen. Nathanael 
Greene, whose bod}' now slumbers entombed in the bosom of 
Georgia. That which, in the war of 1812, upon the waters of 
lyake Erie, under Perry, did so much for the cause of right 
and our native land. 

" Gentlemen of Rhode Island, I welcome you to our city, 
not only as citizens of that State great in war, but also from 
a State great in peace. The commercial State which has its 
sails on every sea, whose manufactures are sold in every 
countrj' and in every clime ; whose .steel rails belt the globe 
with a grasp of iron, and whose sons, in whatsoever post they 
are, are always first in the vanguard of the army in the march 
of progress. 

" Gentlemen of Rhode Island, your mission here is one 
which makes you trebly welcome, for it is a mission to do 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. d'S 

honor to those heroes of your State who fell in the titanic 
struggle with the ' Boys in Gra^^' 

" From time immemorial monuments have been reared to 
commemorate heroes and great deeds, and all down the ages 
they will extend in an endless chain till eternity shall be no 
more. In thus doing honor to your heroes you do yourselves 
honor, and your sentiment endears you to every southern 
heart. 

" Gentlemen of Rhode Island, from the North, East, the 
West, the South, you should be welcomed, and Southern hearts 
thus greet you now." 

At this point a short response was made by Governor Garvin, 
but he made a more extended speech later. 

Hon. Joseph P. Burlingame, Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of Rhode Island, responded to a toast. The gist of 
his remarks were that Rhode Island and Georgia should get 
together ; that the time for all sectional differences was over 
with ; that every time a Southern man met a Northern man 
they better understand each other, and each time sectional 
differences were the more obliterated. " We only need to meet 
more, to grasp each others hands, to hear each others voices, 
we Northern men and we Southern men, to cement us the more 
in friendly relations. We have received nothing but welcome 
from you, and when you come to Rhode Island we will cap- 
ture you and treat you as you have treated us to-day. We 
will show you our State House, built of Georgia marble, 
[Applause] and that the day is not far distant when you will 
visit us is our sincere wish." 

Col. P. H. Quinn was called on for an address. He said 
that he heartily echoed the sentiment of the Speaker of the 
House, who had so well voiced the sentiments of all the Rhode 
Island party. " Anyone who listened to the eloquent words 
of Major Black would, indeed, be made of marble not to ap- 



46 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

preciate 3'our hospitality." Col. Quinn went on to .sa_v that 
Georgia was fast outstripping Rhode Island in the cotton mill 
industr}^, and that they must look to their laurels. 

Mr. E. L. Freeman, chairman of the legislative committee, 
was called upon, and spoke substantially as follows : 

" Gentlemen : I w^ish first of all to thank the Chamber of 
Commerce for the selection of such an honorable and dis- 
tinguished committee of entertainment. I wish, also, in be- 
half of all my associates, to return our warmest thanks for 
the able, painstaking, and courteous manner in which this 
committee have fulfilled their duty in welcoming the Governor 
of Rhode Island, and the whole delegation, to your beautiful 
city. We have enjoyed to the utmost our pleasant ride ; we 
have enjoyed your hospitalities ; and now, as we are to say 
good-bye, we can only thank you for all your kindnesses, and 
assure you that they will never be forgotten." 

Hon. Boykin Wright was next called on for a speech. 

" Governor Wright," said some one in the gathering. " He's 
all right !" was the echoing remark, as Mr. Wright began to 
address the gentlemen present. 

Mr. Wright paid tribute to Major Black, sa3'ing that in his 
.school had he learned to love the high principles of states- 
manship, and that he was delighted to welcome such dis- 
tinguished Americans as he saw before him to-day. 

" I know nothing better than to say we all know each other 
better to-day ; let us forget small differences ; let us know no 
North, no South, no East or West differences ; we have for- 
gotten them, gentlemen. 

" Let us go forth to make a great nation, not great in power, 
but great in the good to humanity ; not great as a world 
power, but great in freedom. 

" Gentlemen, we say good-bye to you ; God speed you ! " 

'*■ I told you he was worthy to be Governor of Georgia," said 



KEPORT OF COMMITTEE. 47 

Major Black, when the applause that greeted Mr. Wright's 
speech had died down. 

"Three cheers for the next Governor!" said one of Gov. 
Garvin's staff ; and the cheers was given with a will. 

Among other gentlemen who made this visit so agreeable 
was George R. Stearns, Esq., son of ex- Governor Stearns, of 
this State, who has charge of the large works of the Riverside 
Mills, at Augusta. 

Leaving Augusta at 2 : 25 P. M., the part}^ arrived at Rich- 
mond early in the morning of Saturday, where an informal 
reception in the executive mansion was tendered to Governor 
Garvin and the party by Governor Montague and wife, of 
Virginia. 

At noon the party left Richmond, and arrived at Providence 
early the next morning. 

The whole trip was an exceedingly pleasant one ; no pains 
were spared b)^ the railroad officials to make everything com- 
fortable and pleasant. 

DESCRIPTION OF MONUMENT. 

The monument is of the best blue Westerly granite, with a 
lo-cut finish, absolutely free from blemish of any kind. The 
four plain faces of third base were polished ; on the second 
base the words " Rhode Island " were cut in carved oval-faced 
letters in relief, 6 inches in height. The die had bronze panels 
on each side, with the names of the dead, in raised letters, 
showing rank, company, regiment, branch of service, and the 
year of death. At the top of the front panel are the words, 
"Our Honored Dead." The band on cap was polished, and 
thirteen bronze stars, representing the thirteen original States, 
affixed thereto. Above this the coat-of-arms of the State, in 



48 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

bronze, was attached to a gable on front side of cap. The 
total weight of monument was twenty-five tons. 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

The amount appropriated by the General Assembly for the 
monument, and all expenses connected with the erection and 
dedication, was $6,500. The disbursements were as follows : 

A. G. Crumb & Son, for monument and markers, freight, 
and setting up same and afifixing the bronze panels and 

ornaments $2, 144 08 

Gorham Mfg. Co., for bronze panels, stars, and State coat- 

of-arms 1.350 00 

Railroad transportation, meals, and expenses 2,208 92 

Mrs. Lizabeth A. Turner, personal expenses, grading lot, etc. 87 36 

Deed of lot, telegrams, badges, printing, etc 88 25 

Deposited with General Treasurer of the State, the income 

to be used to keep lot and monument in repair 500 00 

$6,378 61 
Balance of appropriation in treasury 121 39 



3,500 00 



In the appendix to this report will be found the names of 
all the men from this State who died at Andersonville and 
were buried in the National Cemetery ; an examination of 
this list shows that of the 74 prisoners from Rhode Island 
regiments, 60 were from two regiments, viz.: 5th Regiment 
Artillery, 31 ; ist Regiment Cavalry, 29. Out of the 31 from 
the 5th Regiment Artillery, 28 were members of Co. A. A 
description of the prison and its surroundings, by Col. A. 
C. Hamlin, the first Union officer to visit the prison at the end 
of the war, is also appended. 



RErORT OF C'OMMlTTEi:. 49 

Your committee would respectfully report that thej- have 
performed the duty assigned them by the General Assembly. 
The monument has been erected and dedicated to the memorj' 
of those soldiers from this State who laid down their lives in 
defence of the Union in the prison pen at Andersonville. The 
sum of five hundred dollars has been deposited with the 
General Treasurer of this State, to be invested, and the income 
thereof to be paid annually to the Board of Control of Ander- 
sonville Prison Park, Woman's Relief Corps, said sum to be 
used for perpetual care of the monument and grounds. 

Respectfully submitted, 

E. ly. Freeman, 
Henry P. Eldredge, 
Walter H. Durfee, 
John T. Kenyon, 
L. F. C. Garvin, 

Committee. 



APPENDIX. 



OUR HONORED DEAD. 



Private Charles N. Allen Co. D 

Sergeant John H. Austin Co. H 

Private Frederick Bane Co. A 

Private John W. Bidmead Co. G 

Private James Burke Co. C 

Private James Callahan Bat. G, ist 

Private Patrick Carpenter Co. E 

Private George 1^. Clark Co. H 

Private James Colligan Co. A 

Private Thomas Collins Co. A 

Private James H. Collins Co. A 

Corporal Edward O. Colvin Co. A 

Private Charles E. Crocker Co. A 

Private Charles F. Curtis Co. A 

Sergeant Charles B. Delanah Co. G 

Private Robert Deurdon Co. F 

Private George I^. Doolittle Co. A 

Private James Doyle Co. A 

Private Amos Eaton Co. A 

Private James F. Farrell Bat. A, ist 

Private John Feaghey Co. G 

Private Arthur Fee Co. A 

Private Henry B. Freelove Co. H 

Private William Garvey Co. A 

Private Alfred Gilbert Co. K 

Private John Goud)^ Co. A 



ist Reg. Cav. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
5th Reg. Art. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
ist R.eg. Cav. 
Reg. Et. Art. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
2d Reg. Inf. 
5th Reg. Art. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
5th Reg. Art. 
2d Reg. Inf. 
5th Reg. Art. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
5th Reg. Art. 
5th Reg. Art. 
5th Reg. Art. 
Reg. Lt. Art. 
2d Reg. Inf. 
5th Reg. Art. 
ist Reg. Cav. 
5th Reg. Art. 
5th Reg. Art. 
5th Reg. Art. 



54 ANDEllSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

Private Daniel Greene Co. H, 2d Reg. Inf. 

Nathaniel C. Greene U. S. Navy. 

Private Richard Greene .Co. B, 2d Reg. Inf. 

Private John Hampston Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Sergeant Thoma.s Hanley Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Daniel F. Hawkins Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Alvinza Healy Co. D, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Thomas Henry Co. F, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Antoine Hooker Co. G, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Caleb W. Hunt. Co. A, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Stephen R. Ide Co. H, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Andrew J. Johnson Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Cornelius Kellegan Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private James Kettelle Co. B, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private J. Kenney Co. B, 2d Reg. 

Private Dyman D. Leach Co. F, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Cornelius Lee Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Edward Lewis Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Corporal Wm. H. H. Lillibridge Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private John Livingstone- Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Jeremiah Maney -Co. A, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Thomas McKay, 2d Co. B, 2d Reg. Inf. 

Private John McKenna Co. K, 3d Reg. Art. 

Private James W. Millington Co. A, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Stephen Minor Co. D, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Gustavus Navoo Co. K, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Edmund Northup Co. H, ist Reg. Cav. 

Sergeant John R Peterson Co. D, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Jeremiah Rathbone Co. A, ist Reg. Cav. 

Corporal Michael Riley Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Charles Sanders .Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Henry Seymour Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 



APPENDIX. 55 

Private Charles S. Sisson Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Corporal Charles A. Slocum .Co. A, 5tli Reg. Art. 

Corporal George T. Slocum Co. A, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Philip B. Smith Co. A, i.st Reg. Cav. 

Private Darius C. Spink Co. H, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private G. Stalard Bat. A, ist Reg. Lt. Art. 

Private Jerry Sullivan Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Marcus W. Sweet Co. D, 1st Reg. Cav. 

Private John Thomas Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Charles Turner. .Co. E, 7th Reg. Inf. 

Private William H. Vallett ..Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private William Wallace Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private George W. West Co. A, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Hiram West Co. A, ist Reg. Cav. 

Private Benjamin Whitham Bat. F, ist Reg. Lt. Art. 

Private Jerry Wilson Co. A, 5th Reg. Art. 

Private Maurice Wright Co. A, 2d Reg. Cav. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE STOCKADE. 



By Col. A. C. Hamlin. 



" This prison stockade was located by the Winders of the 
Confederate army at the .suggestion of Howell Cobb, in 1863, 
and was occupied for its specific purpose in February, 1864. 

" A dense forest of primeval trees covered the spot which 
was selected by the engineers when they marked out the line 
of the prison. The massive pines were levelled by the 
strong arms of several hundred negro slaves, and when their 
branches were cut away they were placed side by side, stand- 
ing upright in the deep ditches, which were excavated with 



56 ANDERSONVILLE MONUMENT. 

regularity, and in parallel lines, — north and south, east and 
west. Thus were formed the boundaries of the palisade, 
wherein nearly 40,000 human beings were to be herded at 
one time. The surface of the earth was cleared completely 
away. Neither shade nor shelter was there to protect from 
the storm or from the merciless rays of an almost tropical 
sun. Not a tree nor a shrub was left there to cast a shadow 
over the arid and calcined earth. There was simply a ram- 
part of logs, rising from 15 to 18 feet in height above the 
surface of the ground. This rampart measured at first 1,010 
feet in length by 779 feet in width, and was surrounded, at 
a distance of 60 paces, by another palisade of rough logs 
more than 12 feet in height. It was afterwards lengthened, 
in the autumn of 1864, to 1,620 feet. 

" A small stream of water, which arose in two branches 
scarcely 1,000 paces distant, in bogs and fens whose bitterness 
and impurities continued with the current, passed through 
the central portion of the enclosed .space with sufficient vol- 
ume to supply the wants of many thousand men, if it had 
been properly received, protected, and economized. During 
the summer many springs burst forth from the soil on either 
bank of the stream within the prison ; but the water, neg- 
lected by the military guards, .soon became defiled by the 
feet and grime of the prisoners, and then this portion of the 
enclosure, embracing several acres, was transformed into a 
deep and horrible mire, quivering with those disgusting 
forms of organic life which are produced by putrid and de- 
caying matter. 

" Within the two lines of palisades, and on the western .side, 
was erected the single bakery which was to furnish the muni- 
tion bread for the prisoners. Upon the hill to the north- 
ward, at the distance of 200 paces from the outer line, was 



Pen 




n 



APPENDIX. 57 

strangely placed the building which was known as the 
kitchen. The reason why this cookery was placed so far 
from water, and the direct line of communication with the 
main gate, the projectors alone can tell. 

" To the south, on the high land which overlooked the 
prison and its appendages, was erected the two-story build- 
ing which served as quarters and offices for the officers and 
clerks. Along the same elevated ridge were located the 
well-built huts of the guards, who were selected from the 
Confederate Reserves of Georgia, under the command of 
Howell Cobb, and numbered from 3,000 to 5,000 men. 
Farther to the west, along the same airy and commanding 
ridge, and close to the track of the railway, appear the large 
two-storj^ wooden buildings which were built and arranged, 
carefully and comfortably^ for the sick of the Confederate 
guards. 

" The dense pine forests on either side still attest the luxu- 
riant growth, which was regarded at the time of its selection as 
the finest timbered land of all Georgia. These immense pines 
are even yet so near as to cast their lengthened shadows, at 
morning and evening, over this now hallowed area where so 
many noble men perished for want of shelter from the heat 
of the noonday sun, the chilling dews of evening, and the 
frequent rain. The shade temperature of this place some- 
times rose to the height of 105°, even 110° F. The sun 
temperature within the stockade must have risen to 120° and 
upwards, for the height of the walls prevented the free cir- 
culation of the air. The heat of this region during the days 
of summer is unusually great. 

" Here the elevation above the tide level is only about 300 
feet ; and the hot blasts from the burning surface of the 
Gulf of Mexico, which is only about 150 miles distant, sweep 



58 ANDERSON VILLE MONUMENT. 

Up over it northward, without being deviated or modified by 
ranges of mountains. The intervening country is unbroken, 
from distance to distance, by the undulation of the soil, and 
resembles more the level of a wide green sea than the usual 
configurations of the solid earth. It bears the reputation of 
being unhealthy, and it is not strange ; for there are certain 
i.solated local climates which are absoluteh- pestilential, as 
we observe in the detached mountain groups and table lands 
of India and southern Europe. Its isothermal line passes 
through Tunis and Algiers, and the hyetal charts show it to 
be one of the most humid regions in America. Fifty-five 
inches of rain fall here annually, whiLst Maine, with her con- 
stant fogs, receives but 42 and England but 32. 

"Around this ill-fated spot were stretched a cordon of con- 
nected earthworks, which completely enveloped the palisades, 
and commanded, with 17 guns, every nook and corner of the 
enclosure. The forts were well constructed, and provided 
against the chances of sudden and desperate assaults. The 
cannon were well mounted, and placed in barbette and em- 
brasure. Lunettes and redoubts covered all the approaches 
to the two great gates. Several regiments of the Confederate 
Reserves constantly occupied the forts and trenches and 
guarded closely every avenue. Escape was impossible. 

" Within thedeadl}" shadows of this enormous palisade were 
assembled and confined together at one time during the hot 
months of 1864 more than 35,000 .soldiers of the various 
armies of the United States. Here were men of all condi- 
tions, birth, and fortune, — some of the best blood of the 
republic. The strong-limbed lumbermen from the forests of 
Maine ; the tall, gigantic men from the mountains of Penn- 
sylvania ; the hunters of the great prairies of the West, — 
those men of wonderful courage and endurance ; the artisan 



APPENDIX. 59 

from the workshop ; the student from his books ; the lawyer 
from the forum ; the minister from the pulpit ; the child of 
wealth and the poor widow's only son, — ^were collected here 
in this field of torture. They were men in the prime of life, 
young, vigorous, and active, when they surrendered them- 
selves as prisoners of war. 

" Here, instead of bright and glorious banners and the flash 
of arms, the long array of men eager for the contest, and the 
songs, the shouts of defiance, there was a vast enclosure, 
crowded with living beings of scarce the human form, hag- 
gard and unnatural in appearance, — a sea of red and fetid 
mud, trampled and defiled b^' the immense throng. Instead 
of the white tents and canopies of military encampments, 
there were the ragged blankets vainly stretched over upright 
sticks ; there were the holes in the earth, the burrows in the 
sand, like the villages of the rats of the great prairies of 
the West. They w^ere more like the dens of the beasts of the 
desert than habitations for human beings. 

" Life here was brief. The victims, as they entered the 
gate, were appalled at the horrors that were presented to 
them in this living sepulchre. Nature seemed to have 
abandoned the struggle early, and the young men passed, 
with rapid pace, from youth — that youth so rich in its future 
— to manhood, from manhood to old age. Neither prudence 
nor philosophy could protect them from the grievous influ- 
ences of the morbid conditions to which they were exposed. 
The delicate and noble faculties were blunted and destroyed. 
Some perished at once, — almost as quickly as though struck 
by the lightning of heaven ; whilst others lingered, according 
to the strength of the hidden resources, the reserved and 
superabundant powers of youth. The integrity and character 
exhibited by these men in the midst of these tortures is un- 



60 ANDEESONVILLE MONUMENT. 

surpassed. The sufferings of these men — wasting, putrefy- 
ing, dying daily by scores, by hundreds — can never be told. 

" At the close of the war, at a distance of about 500 paces 
north-westward from the stockade, in a little field which was 
almost overshadowed by the surrounding pines, appeared a 
multitude of stakes standing upright in the earth, in long and 
regular lines. Upon every one of these fragments of boards 
figures had been carelessly scratched by an iron instrument, 
and they ran up to the appalling number of almost 14,000. 
Each stick represented a dead man, — a hero ; and this multi- 
tude of branchless and leafless sticks reminds us rather of a 
blasted vineyard than of a cemetery arranged for the human 
dead. That field has since become a national cemetery, and 
through the good work of Clara Barton the sticks have been 
replaced bj^ government headstones. 

" There is no battlefield on the face of the globe, known to 
history, where so many soldiers are interred in one group as 
are gathered together in the broad trenches of this field among 
the pine forests of Georgia. What a gathering is this ! 

" Liberty has but one inscription to offer, and that is the 
noble lines which were traced on the dungeon wall in the 
blood of the noblest and purest of the Girondins : ' Potius 
inori quavi foedari,' — 'Death rather than dishonor.' " 



